The eighth hole at Pebble Beach, a 416-yard par-4, is renowned for its daunting second shot over a chasm of Monterey Bay. Average players, lacking the power to carry the cove, would be wise to bail out and lay up on the left side of the fairway. But duffers don’t travel from all ends of the earth to play it safe, so take your best swing and drop a ball into the Pacific. It’s all part of the experience.
The 12th at Augusta National is a diminutive 155 yard par-3 named “Golden Bell.” Yet for more than one professional coming around Amen Corner, the bell ringing here tolls despair, as very decent shots can easily find one of the hole’s three bunkers—or worse yet, Rae’s Creek, which flows in front. The problem is the wind. “It’s always hard to figure this one out,” Peter Jacobsen said. “The swirling winds make club selection almost impossible.”
Pros and duffers alike consider this 476-yard par-4 among the most brutal golf holes anywhere. “You drive to a blind fairway that slopes from right to left and runs away from you,” said Joe Rassett. “If you hit a good drive, you’re still faced with a second shot of 180 to 200 yards on a downhill right-to-left lie that needs to be hit to an elevated green that sits at an angle that’s not conducive to a positive mental image.”
While the 7th and 8th at Pebble may hog the media spotlight, it’s the 462-yard par-4 ninth that worries the pros. “It’s definitely the hardest hole for me at Pebble,” said Mark McCumber. “It plays downhill, but a good tee shot leaves you on a downhill lie. You have an awkward stance for your approach shot, and your club is delofted. Your target is a small firm green, with the ocean to the right. You’d like to come up the left, but there’s a cavernous bunker waiting there. I’d take a 4 there any day; I never played a tourney at Pebble without at least one bogey on the ninth.”
Many feel that the 16th at Cypress Point comprises 231 yards of the most beautiful and challenging golf to be found anywhere. “You have to carry some 220 yards over the Pacific Ocean to find the green,” Peter Jacobsen said. “Add in a cross-wind, and it almost becomes a short par-4.” Only three players have made a hole-in-one on the 16th, including crooner/golf enthusiast Bing Crosby.
The finishing hole at the site of the Nissan Open—a 475-yard par-4—has plenty of drama built in to make for some interesting tourney finishes. “You begin with a blind uphill tee shot to a left-to-right sloping fairway, which is very intimidating,” Peter Jacobsen said. “Combine that with a second shot to an extremely narrow, sloping green, and you have a very hard hole to make in regulation.”
Players teeing off at the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont have proven their mettle by the act of making it to this fabled tee. But this 482-yard par-4 opener, voted the hardest opening hole in golf by PGA of America, provides little chance to rest on one’s laurels. “The fairway is just 24 yards wide with bunkering on both sides of the fairway,” Joe Rassett said. Your second shot is roughly 200 yards downhill to a green that is notoriously fast and slopes from front to back and right to left.”
Mark McCumber offered a little clarification for the infamous 18th hole at Doral. “People refer to the course as the Blue Monster,” he said, “but it’s really the name for the hole.” The “blue” references the 443-yard par-4’s abundant water hazards on the left; the “monster” could allude to how one feels if they blow up here. “It’s a difficult driving hole,” Mark continued, “and once you reach the landing area, you have a mid-iron (if the wind is blowing) into an angular green that’s fronted by water. Pros have made doubles or triples here to lose. If I’m up a few strokes in a tourney, I play it safe: drive to right rough, wedge to fairway, wedge to green.”
The Lake Course at the Olympic Club is known for the trees—approximately 40,000 of them—which line each fairway. Though the course has no water hazards and only one fairway bunker, even slightly errant shots are severely penalized. “I always found it extremely difficult to hit the fairway on number 17 (a 522-yard par-5),” said Steve Pate. “You have to hit a draw to hit the fairway, and I hit the ball left to right. If you’re not in the fairway, it’s a long haul.”
At 219 yards, the 17th at Bay Hill (home of the Bay Hill Invitational Presented by MasterCard) is one of golf’s more daunting par-3s. “I’ve seen a lot of things happen there,” mused Mark McCumber. “The green is L-shaped, and a typical tough pin is back right. The hole is fronted by a pond and a deep bunker. The pond wraps around behind the green. You’re hitting a 2, 3 or 4-iron, and you only have 30 or 40 feet of green to work with. If you don’t hit a perfect long iron, you can’t hold it. There’s nowhere to hide.”